« Celebration | Main | Lady Sovereign »
The Joggers
Listening to the Joggers is kind of like wandering through a garden maze -- freewheeling, confusing, disorienting, but addictive. With roots in both the Dischord/Washington, DC and UK post-punk sounds, the Portland-based band combines throaty, shouty vocals that are bursting with energy, unexpected instrumentation, and nervous flourishes into a mixture of convoluted indie rock. It's nervous, hyper post-punk-inspired rock, with tons of point and counterpoint.
The songs are paradoxes: lovingly sloppy but intensely precise at the same time. With ever-evolving tempo and mood changes, the Joggers never rest on their laurels. Every move they make is overwhelmingly deliberate. Somewhere, the compostional freaks of the world are caressing their vinyl copies of With a Cape and a Cane, pointing out the complex interplays that are occasionally venture into the wilderness. Each song is crammed full of musical ideas and the layered guitars and vocals seem to be in a neverending arms race.
The challenging and complex melodies may not be the most accessible out there, and the jittery hi-hat and obtuse, abrasive guitar lines ultimately reward those who stick around for more than a few minutes with songs like the genuinely odd ballad "Night of the Horsepills."
Just when I thought this genre had been all but played out, the Joggers came along and shook things up. It's the type of music that's automatically loved by record store clerks and blows the minds of freshmen college radio DJs: somehow both danceable and surprisingly cerebral at the same time. And although I can't really dance to the herky-jerky start-and-stop of "We've Been Talked Down" but the chorus pushes the song towards eternal catchiness, and at the very least, I'm doing more than the standing still.
The Joggers - We've Been Talked Down
The Joggers - Since You're Already Up
The Joggers - Night Of The Horsepills
The Joggers - Hot Autism
The Joggers - Blurred Digits
The Joggers' official site. Buy With a Cape and a Cane from Amazon or iTunes Music Store.
Shadows tags: thejoggers.
Posted by Queen of the Front Row at 02.19.06 at 1:28 PM
Comments
Comments are now closed for this entry.
